1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is directed to a system for performing trade finance operations and, more particularly, a system that allows centralized processing for a globally distributed trade finance business.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventional trade finance processing, such as the processing for an individual letter of credit, is generally performed at one processing site starting with the receipt a document/message, such as, an application or payment document and concluding with the sending of the resulting outgoing documents/messages. Initiating documents may have been received by the processing site via fax or a stand alone imaging system, but processing in the trade finance system starts once they have been received. Almost all large banks with a global presence have multiple processing sites for many geographically diverse locations, each processing trade finance instruments according to its local market demands and practices. This typically results in a collection of processing systems implemented in their domestic Back Office and the various foreign branches with little or no integration between them. At the other extreme, a few banks have consolidated all of their processing in one (or a few) location(s), using stand alone imaging, fax, couriers or other means to transport documents to and from the customer business sites to the processing sites. The systems implemented to support these processing centers attempt to achieve economies of scale but fail to fully integrate the end-to-end process that starts when the document/message reaches the bank, rather than the processing center. A typical example of such a system is the TradeLine(trademark) system available from American Management Systems of Virginia. What is needed is a system that inherently operates in a global technical architecture. One that captures the end-to-end process and allows the bank to optimally the configure its global customer service and processing organizations. One that permits the bank to locate the processing centers wherever they want (for instance, at a low cost site), without sacrificing the local customer service at the customer site or special customer or local processing practices.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a trade finance system that can operate in a decentralized or a centralized global processing environment.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a trade finance system that can be configured to capture and process activities at their entry points into the bank, or to capture the activities at the entry points, but process them at another location.
It is also an object of the present invention to allow for consolidation of trade finance operations to gain efficiencies in manpower and resources.
It is an additional object of the present invention to provide a trade finance system in which operations can be distributed over diverse geographic areas and time zones via a hub and spoke configuration.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a flexible three tier architecture with a presentation layer for user access, a business logic layer for all validation of information and a database layer for storage and retrieval of data.
It is an additional object of the present invention to provide a partitioned architecture that includes the ability for the system to operate over distant locations as well as the ability for the system to handle global transaction volumes.
It is also an object of the present invention to provide integrated global work flow allowing trade finance work to move from location to location as workers become available in different time zones and as desired to meet customer service agreements as well as to balance work load among workers or processing centers.
It is an object of the present invention to support the definition of contextual reference data for each relevant location whether a hub or spoke where contextual reference data includes data and time information, instructions (text, fees and charges, settlement, refinancing, and purchase order), system settings, foreign exchange rates, calendars, base currency, and accounting rules.
It is an object of the present invention to automatically apply the contextual reference data of the trade instrument""s owning location (set at creation) regardless of who or where the instrument""s activities are processed, thus, ensuring automatic compliance with the appropriate customer and local practices.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide embedded imaging allowing a worker working on an electronic version of a trade work item to view electronic copies of documents associated with the work item.
It is an object of the present invention to provide robust and easily available information for query and reporting across the global configuration of locations.
It is a another object of the present invention to provide a system using object oriented technology to provide an ability to quickly adapt the system to new business or technology trends.
The above objects can be attained by a trade finance system organized into a hub and spoke configuration with a three tier software architecture. Embedded imaging work flow is provided allowing users to view copies of the trade finance documents as work items are processed. Work flow distribution rules distribute the work items to a worker or work-group for processing and redistribute the work items as needed to allow processing to continue when the originally assigned worker or work-group has reached an end of it""s business day.
These together with other objects and advantages which will be subsequently apparent, reside in the details of construction and operation as more fully hereinafter described and claimed, reference being had to the accompanying drawings forming a part hereof, wherein like numerals refer to like parts throughout.